


Dead Ex Machina

by starrynova



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mastermind, Major V3 Spoilers, Rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 06:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10380363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrynova/pseuds/starrynova
Summary: With a new puppeteer, this leads to new cases, new trials, and new character growth.V3 RewriteMajor Endgame Spoilers





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hihi! Thanks for reading!  
> Thanks for Sou @Gonta and Khun (doesn't have an account) for editing this for me!

The final vote was entered: it was unanimous.  
**Tsumugi Shirogane had killed Amami Rantarou in cold blood.**  
Kaede couldn't believe it. At first she thought she had killed Amami herself. The plan she and Saihara had made… failed. If it wasn’t for the fact that people like Momota, Gokuhara, Saihara - even someone like Ouma - had all believed in her so much… If it weren't for those buttons that were discovered during the investigation, that by pure luck had happen to have found, that showed that Shirogane lied about not being on the crime scene, everyone would have been… Kaede shook her head. That wasn't the case. She brought herself back to reality.

  
Shirogane herself didn't look at anyone, just keeping her head down. Her shoulders slightly shook. Kaede felt guilty, this was her fault... She looked at Saihara, but the detective refused to make eye contact with her. The poor guy blamed himself… Although in his defense, Kaede did lure him into outing her plan in front of everyone. Still… Saihara already felt unconfident about his talent, and this had probably shattered his whole self esteem… Kaede would have to talk to him later. However, now there was a more pressing matter at hand.

  
Everyone was looking at the cosplayer, some with disgust, others with sadness. They couldn’t believe someone they considered a friend had murdered someone (no one could believe it when Kaede was accused, either). Kaede opened her mouth, attempting to ask why, why would Shirogane do such a thing. What could bring such a sweet girl like Shirogane to murder Amami like that? Just as she was about to get a word out, she was cut off by an unexpected noise.  
“Ha… Hahahaha…!” Everyone stepped away from the cosplayer in an instant. She kept laughing, like she didn't mind the fact that she was minutes away from execution. She seemed excited, almost. “Sorry, everyone! Actually… I'm not very sorry, at all! I hope you can all forgive me, although it's probably too late for that… hm…” She pressed her pointer finger to her mouth, suddenly deep in thought, although her giggling never ceased.  
Everyone else was silent. What was with this sudden change of character? The cosplayer’s eyes seemed to go a shocking shade of blue. Then, she went into another fit of laughter. “It's… all just so funny you know?”  
Momota grit his teeth. “What do you mean it's fucking funny? **You murdered someone!** ”  
Shirogane waved off Momota’s comment. “It's just funny that you all caught me so soon! Shame that a couple of my merch buttons fell from my pocket… I didn't even notice them fall out… or that I had them on my person at all, really.”  
_So soon…?_  
Kaede wondered what she meant by that. It seemed as if she wasn't the only one either.  
“Wait,” Saihara interrupted Shirogane’s would-be villain monologue, “What do you mean by ‘so soon’? Were you planning to get caught all along…?”  
The cosplayer simply nodded, “Of course!” She said. “Although… I was planning for Akamatsu-san to take the blame…”  
_What?_  
“To think there was an execution planned and everything… Although I guess we’ll just have to modify it.”  
“Wait!” Kaede found herself speaking without meaning too, “What do you **mean** you were about to let me take the blame?!”  
Shirogane looked at Kaede as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, “Well, you did set up the trap. If only it hadn't failed… then I wouldn't be in this situation. Although I do have to thank Saihara-kun for almost getting everyone to vote for Akamatsu-san.”  
Kaede could see Saihara flinch right next to her. He fell for Shirogane’s bait, hook, line, and sinker. Almost everyone did. Kaede sighed. “So are you… admitting to being the ringleader…?”  
Shirogane simply nodded, “Yes. I… suppose you can call me that.”  
The room lowered a few degrees in temperature. Everything went silent. You could hear a pin drop in the room. Kaede could feel goosebumps on the back of her neck. Her throat went dry, her voice gave out, like someone came behind her and tied a rope to her neck. No one knew what to respond to that. Who could? Kaede expected some argument, debate, something, anything. Not… Shirogane blatantly admitting to it. It seemed **off.**

  
Gokuhara was the next to speak, “Then… why? What's your motive for all of this?” He was asking the question on everyone’s mind, though none of them dared to speak it. Shirogane let out a small giggle, akin to a normal schoolgirl, as if she was simply gossiping with her friend.  
“Oh nothing complex really,” The cosplayer said, “It was for despair. That's all.”  
Iruma scoffed. “What a shitty reason!”  
Shirogane simply shrugged. No one knew what to make of it. Shirogane was so passive about the entire situation. She adjusted her glasses. “Well. I guess you won. It's a shame we didn't get to use all those ideas I had…”  
“Wait!” Kaede found herself saying before she realized it, “I have one question.”  
“Oh, you might as well. This seems to be a Q and A at this point.”  
“Why us?” Everyone seemed to look at one another. The entire situation seemed strange. Gathering up fifteen Super High School Level students and locking them up in a killing game. Not only that, it was for the sake of… despair?  
_Hmm…_  
That idea almost seemed... familiar to Kaede. Although she couldn't quite place her finger on it…Kaede decided to leave that thought for another time, when she got out. “There has to be a reason why you chose us specifically, isn't there?”  
Shirogane simply smiled and said, “Because you're all criminals, of course.”

  
Kaede didn't think it was possible, but it seems like the temperature of the room had dropped even lower.  
She gulped, “What’s… that supposed to mean?”  
“Just as it sounds. Really, none of you should be surprised you all ended up in a situation like this. You've all… done something to be here, I'm sure. I wasn't really told all the details about you guys.” Shirogane clapped her hands together, “Well, I think I've said enough. I don't think the others would appreciate me running my mouth.”  
Saihara stepped forward. “What do you mean by ‘the others’?” Soon, everyone else kept shouting questions at Shirogane. But she didn't give them any information to run on.

  
Shirogane ignored their queries, and acted as if this were just some show. “Monokuma-san. I think it's time.”  
Monokuma had been quiet that entire time, only speaking at that moment. “I hear ya!”  
Kaede could still make out everyone bombarding the cosplayer with questions.  
“Wait!”  
“What do you mean you haven't told us everything?”  
“Who are you working for?”  
“What do you mean, you're doing this for despair?”  
It seemed as though Monokuma and Shirogane were in their own world.  
“It's punishment time!”

  
From the sky came a chain and collar that snapped itself onto Shirogane’s neck, dragging her towards the roof as everyone reached out towards her, demanding answers.

  


**_TSUMUGI SHIROGANE HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY. COMMENCING EXECUTION!_ **

  


**_The Red String of Fate_ **

Shirogane was pulled up towards the sky, although she never seemed phased. It was as if she expected this outcome, almost. Though if one took a closer look, they would see the bead of sweat slowly falling down the cosplayer's face. Then, she was dropped unexpectedly, although she was yanked back up before she could slam into the ground. Kaede could hear Shirogane make a choking sound at the unexpected tug from the collar. The pianist rubbed her own neck - she wasn't sure why, it was almost as if she could feel the pull herself. After that, she was gently place on the floor, the collar releasing itself.  
Then, it was replaced by what seemed to be red thread, the kind one would use for sewing. It wrapped itself around Shirogane's neck, which even now was beginning to bruise. Similar threads attached themselves to her wrists and ankles. Then on to what seemed like a tune to a music box, they seem to maneuver her like a puppet. It was reminiscent of a ballerina, and Shirogane was eating the attention right up. She enjoyed every second of everyone's eyes on her. Kaede wondered why, then she vaguely remembered - before the murder, Shirogane didn't have any friends. Maybe that was her true motive behind everything?

Unfortunately, it seemed as though Kaede would never get an answer.  
Because after what seemed to be a minute of gentle guidance, everything took a turn for the worse. One second, Shirogane had the grace of a butterfly. Then, the next second, she was being slammed into the wall, face first. When she was pulled back, Shirogane's calm composure was replaced by one of pure confusion and fear. She began to speak, "W-wait! This isn't-!" She was pulled and slammed to another wall. Her voice was quiet, at least compared to the music-box-esque tune that was playing. It almost obscured the cosplayer’s voice entirely. Shirogane kept getting thrown, like a doll that a child got bored of. She kept calling out to what seemed to be the remaining fourteen students. “This isn't part of the plan!” She shouted. “I trusted y-” She was yanked back before she could say anything else. The poor girl was covered in bruises. Kaede was pretty sure an arm wasn't suppose to bend that way. She was crying and covered in blood, her own blood. Her nose was broken, her eye bruised. She kept trying to call out, but at this point the cosplayer realized she had been betrayed. “I was set up!” She called. Kaede wasn't sure anyone else could hear what Shirogane was saying - it might have been her fine musician’s hearing helping her make out everything. Actually, Kaede was pretty sure she was the only one who was listening in on Shirogane’s screaming at all.

  
From the back, hurtling towards the cosplayer at impossible speeds, was a giant sewing needle.

  
“They're-!”

  
Unfortunately she didn't finish that sentence - right before she could continue it, the needle cleanly pierced her heart, lodging itself midway through. The ropes around her ankles and wrists were cut off by some mysterious force.

  
Now all that was left of Tsumugi Shirogane was a hanging corpse, bleeding from a broken heart.

  
Monokuma was slumped over, so were the five Monokumars. They seemed to have shut down. The room was quiet. No one seemed to have spoken the entire execution.  
And then Yumeno spoke, “Is… is it over?” Everyone looked at the now shut off Monokuma. Toujou then said, “I… think it is.” A handful of people let out sighs of relief. Then, everyone look at each other.  
“There's nothing left to do then find a way out, then,” said Harukawa. Everyone muttered in agreement and all headed towards the elevator.  
Well, mostly.  
“Wait,” said Hoshi, “This… this doesn't seem right.”  
Gokuhara blinked, “What do you mean Hoshi-kun?”  
“It's… it’s too simple. This was way too easy.”  
“It ain't that complex, man,” replied Momota, “Shirogane was in charge, we caught her, we won.”  
Ouma adopted a thinking look, “No, I agree with Hoshi-chan. It's no fun if the person behind it was caught so early…”  
Kiibo started to reply, “Ouma-san, this isn't a ga-” and then was caught off by a familiar-sounding laugh.  
“Upu,” Everyone froze, and looked at the slowly standing monochromatic teddy bear.  
“Upupupu!” Monokuma looked at the still fallen Monokumars. “What a shame, too bad those kids can’t compare to the original!” He laughed again, “Ah well, at least the Exisals can run on autopilot without them.”  
Kaede felt a cold bead of sweat run down her forehead, “B-but… we caught Shirogane!”  
The bear looked right at her. “Yeah, you did. But. But but buuuuuuuut!”  
Chabashira stepped forward. “But what?! We caught the ringleader, right?! So allow Tenko and her friends to go home, you nasty, stinky bear!”  
The bear looked confused, “But wait, there's more! You haven't caught the ones behind it! Why should I let you kids go?”

  
The room went silent. Shinguuji sputtered, “Shirogane-san was the one behind it, was she not?”  
“Nope! I'll tell ya one thing, she was the ‘ringleader’ sure, but… The people in charge of this prefer the term ‘mastermind’, if you will.”  
Saihara looked shocked, “Then… did we catch the wrong person?”  
The bear nodded, “I'll give you one thing,” He pointed right at Kaede, “Sure, Ms. Nobody might have been the real killer. But she only did so because your l’il gizmo flunked! So, here's my thanks to you for getting the killings started!” Everyone looked at Kaede, and the worst part was that the bear wasn't exactly wrong. “For that, I'll give ya a hint, this game only involved the sixteen, whoops, fourteen, people here. There isn't any outsider involved at all!”

  
Everyone knew what that meant. The real mastermind was still among them.

  
“Akamatsu-san…” Saihara started, but Kaede walked passed him.

  
She was quiet the whole ride up the elevator.

**Author's Note:**

> http://pastebin.com/cQhadk48
> 
> Also yes I killed the monokumars bc I have no idea what to do with them.
> 
> Kudos/Comments/Subscribes are always welcomed!


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